


Why Help a Foe?

by eviestevie



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Purely self indulgent fic here, WIPs? What’s that? I only know new ideas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27271606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eviestevie/pseuds/eviestevie
Summary: After a failed escape attempt from Atlas, Cinder and Neo are stranded on the tundra and one of them is wounded. Will they help each other? Or will they turn their backs on one another as they’ve always planned?... that is what they always planned... right?
Relationships: A little bit of emercury if you squint real hard, Cinder Fall/Neopolitan
Comments: 32
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> !!!!!Little warning: there is some mentions of blood/injury in this fic so read with caution if you’re sensitive to that stuff
> 
> This is another fic based on my headcanon that I came up with on my tumblr (idkwhatimdoingsometimes) that Neo is a selective mute (with a little hint of her abusive past with her parents/family).
> 
> Also, I realise that these two are probably going to be at each other’s throats this volume but still I like the idea of a villain relationship where it’s like “I hate you but I really don’t. But I do and I want to kill you. But I also don’t because you’re not allowed to die because I SAID SO!”

Escaping Atlas without any problems was a lot harder than Neo or Cinder could have predicted. They both thought that with the Grimm being a large distraction, it would be easy enough to steal a ship, fly full speed and tail it out of the city. However, it appeared luck wasn’t on their side.

A small squad of troops noticed their thievery, and in a very Ironwood fashion, they couldn’t let it go. The troops got into a ship of their own and soon enough, Neo was having to evade their fire.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Cinder snapped harshly, clinging onto her seat beside her mute partner in crime. Obviously annoyed at the military’s violent assault. Neo swerved out of the way of another rain of fire, very tempted to let go of the joystick in favour of releasing some pent up frustration on the Maiden.

She really just did nothing but complain didn’t she?

Cinder must have noticed Neo’s irritation, as the next time she spoke, her tone was calmer. 

Well... as calm as it could be in this situation.

“Do we have anything to hit them back with?” Cinder asked, examining the dashboard of the ship for anything that could help them retaliate. Neo shook her head, suddenly steering them down into a nosedive to avoid a head on collision with the enemy ship.  
“We must be in a transport ship.” Cinder muttered to herself.

A pause.

“Alright then... screw it.”

As Neo brought the ship level again, Cinder got out of her chair and headed to the large door in the ship’s hull. Neo could only spare a passing glance in confusion before having to focus on the onslaught of attacks as the enemy ship passed in front of her, flying past then turning back around to approach them again.

“Keep this thing steady!” Cinder ordered.

Didn’t have to tell Neo twice.

Cinder opened the door of the ship, her amber eye glowing with bright flame as a fireball appeared in her hand. They were being followed closely, she shot towards the Atlas ship high on their tail. They only had seconds to react, just barely managing to dodge the inferno heading towards them by the skin of their teeth, forcing them to back away. Neo looked back to see what was happening, a slight smile formed on her face at Cinder’s attack and the enemy’s struggle. As Cinder was distracted, Neo took a moment to look at her hot-headed “boss”. 

Only then would something very unexpected and very poorly timed would pop into her head.

Cinder looked rather pretty in the snow.

Cinder turned back towards Neo, a smile of her own appearing on her usually stern face. A face which quickly twisted into shock as she reached out a hand to Neo.

“There’s another ship!”

Neo turned back around to suddenly be faced with a second military ship heading straight for them. The ship fired, a direct hit to the left wing left metal creaking and groaning as it tore apart from the impact. The military ship turned upwards, almost scraping the top of them and flew away.

A successful execution.

The catastrophe of this hit only took seconds.

Neo lost all control, the ship went spiralling down towards the tundra. She did everything she could to stop it from falling into a nosedive, trying to make the ship glide so their crash landing could be a little smoother. Neo could see a glacier of ice in the distance. So if they didn’t plummet nose first into the ground, then it seemed they were likely to crash into a towering wall of ice instead. Overall, the outcome wouldn’t be painless.

A hand grabbed Neo’s arm and pulled her out of her seat and dragged her out of the cockpit. 

An ear shattering crash echoed through the tundra.

Neo lost consciousness.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

She wasn’t sure how long she was unconscious for, however Neo couldn’t find a reason to care, as she was more concerned with the paralysing ache in her body. Every movement left her in pain, her Aura had definitely bared the brunt of that crash, but that didn’t mean she was impervious to pain. Her head felt like it was going to burst as the world spun around her.

Eventually, Neo forced herself to turn and lay on her back, the snow numbing her pained body. Slowly, she shuffled her limbs around, testing for any serious injuries.

Other than the ache, she seemed quite fine.

It must have been some sort of miracle that Neo survived without any life threatening injuries, especially with the luck she and Cinder had been having.

Cinder... Where was she?

Adrenaline spiked Neo’s body as she sat up abruptly, ignoring the protests of her body to look around the crash site.

Neo was right, the ship had crashed head first into the glacier, the looming wall of ice had jagged cracks where the ship had wedged itself into. The left wing had fallen off, smoke billowed out of the cockpit and debris was scattered everywhere.

And somehow out of all of this... Neo was outside the ship, laying in the snow.

Her vision was muddled, she strained to focus her gaze on the ship. The side door was still wide open, almost completely broken off.

Laying there hanging out of the door was Cinder.

Panic immediately shot through Neo as she forced herself to stand, limping over to Cinder’s body and grabbing her shoulders, she turned her over to get a look at her. Cinder had a wound to her head, blood poured down her face and her body was limp.

Not caring for her own pain, Neo dragged Cinder out of the ship and lay her down to examine her properly. Other than the head wound, there was no other bleeding, and from what she could tell, nothing was missing or broken.

The smell of smoke from the ship tore Neo out of her thoughts. This ship was going to blow up so she had to move fast. 

Neo entered the ship and searched through the storage. She found some blankets, a medical kit and some supplies for an emergency fire. She grabbed a bag and filled it quickly with all the necessities she’d need for both of them to live. Swinging the bag and her parasol over her back, she left the ship and stepped over to Cinder.

This was going to be hard.

Neo wrapped her arms around her torso and lifted her, dragging her away from the wreckage. She checked the sky for any signs of the troops coming after them; nothing in sight. Neo scanned the tundra for something, anything that could give them shelter.

In the distance, there was a small ice cave, hidden away by the snow that was slowly getting heavier. Wasting no time, Neo pulled Cinder towards the cave.

As soon as she was inside she got to work, laying out a sleeping bag for Cinder to rest on. She lay her down and took out the medical kit. Firstly, she had to remove her eyepatch so she could clean the wound.

Neo hesitated, it felt invasive to remove the patch from Cinder’s face. She hid scars under it, something that Neo could understand well. When she was a child, she learned to hide her own scars from others. She was already looked down on for being mute, there was no reason for Neo to give people more things to pity her for.

Shaking the memories of her parents and past scars away, Neo focused on her current task; helping Cinder.

It took some time, but eventually Neo had cleaned the blood off her face, stitched her wound and bandaged it up neatly. Then, she finished by wrapping Cinder under the blankets and starting a fire. Neo heard the storm build outside the cave. She turned to see the wind blowing wildly, bringing in a nasty draft.

Neo sighed heavily, more work.

She built a wall of snow to keep the heat of the fire inside the cave, only leaving a window for the smoke to escape from and proper ventilation. Finally, Neo could relax her aching body and give her Aura time to heal.

Having nothing else to do, Neo decided to watch Cinder as she slept. Her face was peaceful and she was surprisingly beautiful when she wasn’t scowling.

...Oh god she really must have hit her head hard if she was thinking like this.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

“I know you’re in there!”

Neo woke up groggily, rubbing her eyes and stretching out her limbs. The pain had definitely gone down, Neo wondered how long it had been. She turned to look at Cinder. She was still sleeping quietly, this time her back was turned and she faced the wall instead, meaning Neo couldn’t look at her face.

“Hey! Answer me dammit!”

And obviously Cinder was not at all bothered by the voice interrupting their rare quiet time.

“Emerald, maybe they’re not here.” Another voice spoke.

‘Ah Emerald. That explained the familiar whining.’ Neo thought.

“Mercury, snow doesn’t just build walls by itself ok?” Emerald responded, annoyance coating her tone.

Neo stood and walked towards the snow wall. 

Then she was abruptly knocked back along with the snow. She looked up to see Mercury had kicked the wall down and Emerald stood in front of her, arms crossed and a furious glare on her face.

“Where is Cinder?”

Neo pointed behind her. Emerald quickly rushed to kneel by her precious leader’s side.

Mercury offered Neo a hand up, she didn’t take it, instead standing up on her own and dusting the snow off her clothes.

“What happened?” Mercury asked.

No response.

“Ah right... never mind.”

“You saved her.” Emerald muttered, turning back and standing to look at Neo, who was dusting the snow off her hat and putting it back on her head.

She nodded, quirking a brow at Emerald. She did. She saved Cinder.

So why did Emerald look at her like she slapped her in the face?

“Why?” Emerald asked.

That... was not the question Neo was expecting. She gave a puzzled look to Mercury, who only shrugged his shoulders, appearing equally as confused as her. Neo looked back at Emerald, expressing a “What?” look on her face.

“You saved Cinder’s life, why? I thought you hated her.” Emerald walked towards Neo as she spoke, despite being short herself, she still towered over the mute woman.

“Em, does it really matter? She’s alive, so let’s just get her back to Salem before she decides to get rid of us.” Mercury spoke, placing a hand on Emerald’s shoulder, trying to ease her.

Neo stepped around Emerald and walked back to the wounded Maiden, preparing to pack their supplies in order to leave.

“It matters to me!” Emerald shouted, her eyes boring into the back of Neo’s head.  
“I thought you hated Cinder! You wanted revenge because of what happened to Torchwick. You could of just left her there to die, but you didn’t! Why?”

Silence. No response.

Neo paused. Thinking about what Emerald said, about the thoughts that crossed her mind when she looked at Cinder.

It was all so strange.

The silence continued to stretch out.

“Emerald c’mon, she doesn’t talk. There’s no point in asking her—“

“I do... hate Cinder.”

Emerald and Mercury snapped to attention at the sound of a new voice. One that was hoarse and had obviously not been used for a very long time, if ever.

“What?” Emerald questioned, taken aback by the response.

“... I do hate Cinder... But.” Neo turned to them and gave a soft smile.

“I hate being alone even more.”

Who would have thought that the first time Neo spoke, it would’ve been to explain her motive for sparing someone she “hated”.

And none of them would know that throughout all of this, the supposed “hated” woman, Cinder Fall, would have been awake and listening.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A second chapter??? Wut??
> 
> Yes! A commenter by the name of “TNRF_Titan_Fall” asked if I was going to continue this. It took some thought, but eventually, I decided “why not?”
> 
> Warning!!!!! There is mentions of abuse so watch out for that!

Mercury and Emerald stood in shock looking at the short woman in front of them. They were just as speechless as Neo.

Well, that was until moments ago.

“You can speak?!” Emerald questioned, baffled by this new revelation.

Neo nodded, turning back around to continue packing the supplies she had taken from her and Cinder’s crashed ship. She tossed the bag on her back and stood up, still seeing that the young duo were processing what just happened.

“Wha— wait,” Mercury rubbed his eyes, acting as if he hallucinated.

Though Neo couldn’t imagine how rubbing his eyes would determine if he heard correctly.

“How come you’ve never said anything before?”

Neo definitely did not want to answer that question, so she shrugged her shoulders instead.

“Oh what, you gonna go back to silent treatment now?” Emerald was just a grumpy kid wasn’t she? Neo nodded in response once again.

“That’s ridiculous! Why waste time when you are capable of talking?” Emerald complained.

‘I have my reasons.’ Neo thought.

Although, she had to admit, it would be useful and a lot easier to just use her voice.

But she couldn’t, she never did, not even when she was suffering her greatest pain. Neo always kept her silence.

‘Forget them.’ Neo thought to herself, shaking her head.  
‘They’re not here anymore, they can’t hurt me.’

So why not speak?

Neo huffed irritably, annoyed by her company as well as her own head for having ridiculous thoughts. Choosing to focus on their current task instead, getting an unconscious Cinder back to... well, wherever they planned on going.

Neo stepped forwards and knelt in the snow, waving at Mercury and Emerald to kneel with her. Only Mercury did. She used her hand to write in the snow.

“Stretcher?” Mercury read.

Neo pointed at Cinder.

“Yeah, I know but we don’t exactly have one do we?” Mercury replied.

“... do we?” He turned to Emerald, who shook her head, both as a response and to show her exasperation.

Neo thought for a moment, then rubbed away the writing and wrote something else.

“Crash site...” Mercury read once again.  
“Oh! Make a stretcher out of the debris from the crashed ship?”

Neo nodded. Honestly, she was surprised he caught on so quickly.

“Alright then, the sooner we get out of here the better.” Mercury stood, rubbing his arms to generate some heat, he wasn’t a big fan of the snow.

“I’m staying with Cinder.” Emerald said.

‘Of course you are.’ Neo thought while standing up. She couldn’t explain why, but Emerald’s obsession with Cinder made her angry. She was just so... clingy, Neo couldn’t understand why, Cinder seemed like the last person anyone would want to hold onto.

Though, Neo supposed she was a hypocrite to think that, she did save her life after all.

No, no... it was probably the best option, if she did let Cinder die then that meant Emerald would have tried to hunt her down, and Neo didn’t have the energy or the patience for that. Plus, there was that whole Maiden nonsense that she didn’t really understand, nor did she want to, and Cinder dying with those powers would probably upset Salem.

And that was someone Neo absolutely refused to anger.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

Neo led Mercury to the crash site, hearing him whistle as he inspected the wreckage.

“Not a smooth landing, huh?” He said, picking up what appeared to be a panel, bent and desperately trying to hold together. The piece broke and fell to the snow, Mercury dropped the other half he was holding and followed Neo into the ship.

An explosion had went off in the cockpit, Neo remembers the smoke billowing out of it after it had crashed. The seats were gone and what was left of the dash was flickering on and off, faint radio static could be heard but there was definitely no chance of getting into contact with anybody.

Wasting no time, Neo looked around the broken ship for a panel large enough to support Cinder, she was a fairly tall woman after all. After finding a suitable panel, she waved to Mercury to help her tear it off, with some strained effort they managed to pull it off and place it outside the ship. Mercury jumped out and started stomping on it, trying to make it as flat as possible, then he stood in the middle of it and bent the edges into a curve so that Cinder wouldn’t roll off when they carried her. Meanwhile, Neo was tearing off some pipes to bend into handles for the “stretcher”.

She was grateful for the silence, Mercury was curious, but he wasn’t one to pry. Neo supposed it was because he had secrets of his own, she could relate to that and respected him for it.

She thought about Cinder as she worked, was she awake yet? Does she have any other injuries that she didn’t notice? If she was awake, was Emerald already talking her ear off?

Neo couldn’t believe herself, worrying about Cinder? That wasn’t like her at all. She chalked it up to hitting her head too hard in the crash, there was definitely no other reason for it.

‘Cinder looked rather pretty in the snow.’

Neo shook her head of her thoughts, she was being ridiculous, why was she thinking these things? Why now? When did they even start?

Why did Cinder look pretty in the snow?

Heat creeped up the back of Neo’s neck and she hated it. She hated the way this woman made her feel. Why did she save her? It made no sense. She wanted her dead for what happened at Beacon, the only reason she cooperated with her was because they both wanted “Little Red” gone.

She still wants that... doesn’t she?

‘I do hate Cinder... But... I hate being alone even more.’

Why did she say that? Why did she speak? She didn’t owe those two an explanation, but she spoke anyway. And for what? To explain a motive? About Cinder?

Cinder fucking Fall?

“Hey! Can we go now? I’m freezing my ass off here!” Mercury’s complaining brought Neo back to the real world.

Thank goodness, she was just about to drive herself insane.

Forcing herself to focus, she attached the broken pipeline to the panel and let Mercury drag it back to the ice cave where Cinder was being kept.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

Entering the cave, anger once again swelled in Neo’s chest. Emerald was sitting by a sleeping Cinder, watching her rest.

‘That was my spot.’ Neo thought.

If she wasn’t in the company of others, she would’ve slapped herself right then and there.

“How’d it go?” Emerald asked, standing up and walking towards Mercury.

“We made a stretcher so we can get going pretty much now... please.” Mercury explained, clearly in a rush to get out of the cold.

Emerald chuckled at him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently, whether it was an attempt to warm him or it meant something else was something Neo would never figure out.

Cinder was lifted onto the stretcher, still resting in her sleeping bag, completely unaware of her surroundings. They were all jealous of her for being able to relax.

Emerald and Mercury carried the stretcher and led Neo to the ship they had arrived in. All the while, Neo walked beside the stretcher, watching Cinder.

“You sure took your time! I was beginning to think the weather had froze you both solid!” An irritable, theatric voice brought Neo’s attention up to the ship, where a certain scorpion Faunus stood.

“And you found our lost Maiden! My, my how... wonderful.” Tyrian drawn out his response to seeing Cinder alive.

“Shut up, Tyrian.” Emerald warned, clearly not in the mood to listen to him.  
“We need to get back and report to Salem.”

“Oh my! Has the tundra made you develop a backbone? So confident all of a sudden!” Tyrian mocked as he watched Emerald and Mercury lift Cinder into the ship, placing down the stretcher onto the floor of the cabin.

“And what’s this? Our incompetent Maiden has made a friend! Or should I say “little helper” ?” He giggled maniacally, pointing at Neo.

Oh she already didn’t like him.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

The flight back to Salem was peaceful overall. Emerald and Tyrian sat in the dual pilot seats, keeping to themselves as neither wanted to argue or mess with the other. Mercury stood behind Emerald’s chair, a protective hand on her shoulder, he was ready for just in case Tyrian changed his mind and decided to be a smartass.

Meanwhile, Neo sat in the cabin beside Cinder’s makeshift bed. She didn’t watch her this time, instead choosing to look out the window, watching the sun slowly rise into the sky and giving it a warm orange glow.

Kind of like Cinder’s eyes.

Slowly, the Maiden began to stir awake, but Neo was too busy caught up in her own thoughts to notice.

The more she thought about it, the more she realised that Cinder didn’t actually kill Roman. Sure, she was the one that lead the attack on Beacon, therefore being the catalyst that got Roman into that fight with Little Red. But overall, she really didn’t have much of a reason to hate her.

Maybe that was it? She saved Cinder because she didn’t really hate her? Not that she liked her! Definitely not! That would be ridiculous, impossible even!

‘Cinder looked rather pretty in the snow.’

Ok, now Neo had to think she hit her head way too hard. Why did she keep thinking back to that revelation? And why, of all times, did it happen when Cinder was attacking an Atlesian ship?

“You spoke.”

Once again, a voice brought Neo back to reality, and this time it was Cinder’s.

She turned to look at her and saw her trying, and failing, to sit up in her bed as she grunted in pain. Neo shuffled forwards and pushed Cinder gently, an indication to keep resting.

“I heard you.” Cinder groaned as she lay back down.  
“Back in the cave... you spoke to them.”

Neo said nothing, only huffing a sigh and taking off her hat, placing it to the side and looking back at Cinder, a solemn look on her face.

“I... didn’t know you could speak.”

Neo nodded slightly.

“Why didn’t you tell me you could?”

She shrugged.

“Can you speak now?” Cinder asked.

Neo said nothing, only sitting cross-legged besides Cinder, her gaze trained to the floor of the cabin.

A pause.

“... You’re voice sounded rough. You haven’t spoken in a while, have you?”

Neo shook her head.

“Why?”

“...”

She never told anyone her past. Even Roman, her greatest friend, only knew bits and pieces of her story.

Neo had her reasons, talking about the past... it wasn’t easy.

But as she thought about it, the idea of Neo dying without anyone truly ever knowing her scared her a little.

Fuck it. She didn’t have much to lose.

“I was... an unexpected child.”

Cinder’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, she was actually getting an answer? Neo’s voice ached from years of not being used, but she continued to speak.

“I had five siblings, two sisters and three brothers. I... wasn’t supposed to happen. At least, that’s what my parents always told me.”

The Maiden’s heart sank. She new how it felt, to be unwanted by others, so she couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for Neo.

“They hated me... and my siblings made my life hell. I was an anomaly, I looked strange, I acted strange... I never spoke. If I tried to, they would just hurt me. My own mother wouldn’t even hold me if I started crying.” Neo curled up into a ball where she sat.  
“My father was in debt, we hardly had enough money to put food on the table. Of course, I wasn’t wanted, so I spent days without being fed. I didn’t even have a seat at the table.”

Her voice cracked, whether it was from years of silence or from recollecting the memories of her childhood, neither women could tell.

Cinder started to sit up, watching Neo intently, waiting for her to continue.

“They were... so loud.” Neo raised her hands and covered her ears.  
“It was constant, just shouting all the time, arguing about everything. My siblings... always screaming at each other when they played or fought. There was... so much noise, I... I could never speak.”

Neo’s shoulders shook slightly as she repressed the painful thoughts plaguing her mind. The stench of alcohol, her father’s voice, so deafening and harsh. Her mother’s shrill screams, her insults and neglect. All those years of their ignorance and abuse.

The pain... it hurt so bad. Neo was only small, so weak when compared to her brothers and sisters, she could never defend herself from any of them. She still remembers everything they said;  
“She’s so weird!”

“Why is she even here?”

“She doesn’t do anything!”

“If she’s got a problem, she’ll say something!”

But they knew, they all knew she couldn’t. They knew what would happen if she even dared to open her mouth.

Neo continued to shake, more and more violently, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Her breaths were short and rapid, she never taught herself how to calm down when the panic arrived.

She felt something warm touch her shoulder, a hand. Neo flinched immediately, her natural instinct was always to recoil and hide away. Looking up, she saw Cinder through teary eyes.

She looked... sad. But not like any others faces that saw Neo over the years. It wasn’t pity, she knew what that looked like, all those strangers staring at her sitting in the streets for a few moments before looking away and carrying on. Their blissful ignorance allowing them to give no more than a passing glance and simply step over the girl in front of them.

“Someone else will help her.” They all probably thought, a Huntsman perhaps, would take her off the streets and keep her hideous sight out of public view.

But of course, that help never came.

Cinder’s look was... different. It was more... sympathetic. It seemed real and genuine. 

It made Neo feel special.

Silently, Cinder placed her hand on Neo’s back. Rubbing small, soothing circles into it as an effort to calm her racing heart which the Maiden could probably feel from her back, giving how fast it was beating.

Surprisingly, it seemed to work. Her warm hand eased Neo’s tense muscles, giving her body space to breathe and drift back to the real world. Away from her thoughts and all those poison memories.

Cinder sat beside Neo, copying her with her knees brought up to her chest. Her Grimm arm rested over her knees and she placed her chin on it, looking at the ground. She didn’t say anything.

Neo looked at her for a moment, before continuing to gaze at the floor of the cabin. She preferred this, she didn’t need a pep talk, there was nothing Cinder could say that would take away the pain of her past. But, the silent comfort was enough.

“... Thank you.”

Surprised, Neo looked at the Maiden, noticing a small blush on her face. Cinder refused to look back at her.

“For saving me.”

Eventually, Neo smiled, grabbing Cinder’s hand that was still placed on her shoulder and squeezing it gently, like she saw Emerald and Mercury do with each other. She supposed it was how they communicated their gratitude.

“You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly just me writing my own headcanon about Neo’s backstory 😊


End file.
